Last week, Axis Bank Ltd launched www.axisforexonline.com, an online outward remittance website. To use this facility, you don’t have to be the bank’s customer, and it can be used to remit money to any bank account in the world. Besides outward remittance, the website allows you to order forex cards and cash in a foreign currency.
What’s on offer?
You will be able to remit a maximum of $25,000 in a single transaction and $250,000 per annum. Through the bank’s facility, you can send money online if you are know-your-customer (KYC) compliant. You can send money in at least 100 currencies. The bank has tied up with other service providers such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank to enable foreign currency transaction that it cannot do directly. The duration of money transfer depends on how many banks are involved in a transaction and the location. For instance, if you are sending money to the UK and the initiating and corresponding banks are the same, the transfer takes minutes. But if you are sending money to, say, Zimbabwe, and the corresponding entities are not under the same bank, the transfer can take up to two days.
How does it work?
You will have to register on the website and fill details such as bank account number, mailing address where you want the KYC documents to be picked up from, email ID, mobile phone number, among others. Once the mobile phone number is verified using the one-time password (OTP) sent via SMS, you can login to complete the KYC process. You have to enter details of your KYC document and permanent account number. Since the Reserve Bank of India mandates a wet signature to complete the KYC process, you have to submit signed documents at an Axis Bank branch, or ask for them to be collected.
